Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. We had a fantastic time camping with a great group of people for Father's Day. I didn't get a lot of editing done this weekend, but I did get to read a lot.Anyways, my post today is titled patience because summertime has come and I'm at home with my kiddos (I'm a teacher). Since I had my son when I was still in college, I learned patience pretty quick. As he grew older and would do things that would drive me wild, my patience grew and grew. And now that I have two little boys running around, my patience has sky rocketed. As I'm writing this my two-year-old is crying in the other room because he wants to watch a show that isn't on yet. My six-year-old is pretending to be sick so he doesn't have to go to swimming lessons. Yes, I have grown in patience these last few years.

When it comes to writing, you have to have patience. When you first get an idea for a book, all you want to do is just dive in, but that's not always the best thing to do. You have to patiently let the story come to you and plan out at least a rough outline. I don't always follow my original outline if the story takes me somewhere I didn't see in the beginning, but I patiently wait for the characters to speak to me. It took me about two years to finally say that I was finished and happy with my first draft of my first book. Now that required patience.Now your story is done and a whole new patience is coming. The tedious part of breaking each sentence down and editing (this is where I am now). It's hard to go in and rip apart something that took your heart and soul to do, but you have to. You have to have the patience to edit your work and make it the best.You've spent weeks, maybe even months, fine tuning your craft and now comes the time when patience is key. You've sent out about a million query letters to agents who hold your career in their hands. Will you be a published author? Will your dreams be crushed? Don't you just love how they will get back to you in 4-6 weeks? If they even get back with you at all. Yes, patience is needed in this time period. At this point, it's only been one week since I sent in to two agents with more of my work and I'm learning the patience of being a writer. I've got the mother patience down pat, now I just need to sit and wait to hear back from the agents!! Patience, patience, patience!!And then after you're finally chosen, you have to wait six months to a year to see your book in the stores!!

Remember when you were younger and you summoned all of your strength to ask that really cute guy out? And then remember the feeling you felt afterwards when he turned you down? Yah, that's how writing a book and then being rejected feels.Now before I start going into a sob story about how I will never be published and that I will always be this big loser that tried and failed....let me give you some rejections to very well-known authors.arry Potter: Turned down 12 timesGone with the Wind: Turned down 38 timesA Wrinkle in Time: Rejected 29 timesH.G. Wells: "The War of the Worlds" that said, "An endless nightmare. I do not believe it would "take"...I think the verdict would be 'Oh don't read that horrid book'." Mary Higgins Clark: "We found the heroine as boring as her husband did." Ernest Hemingway: "We found the heroine as boring as her husband did." And the list goes on and on. You can check out more of these famous rejections at this website. So anyways, I blog about this because this is the rejection I received today...Dear Laura: Thanks for sending along the pages of your manuscript, DUST. Truth be told, though, I'm afraid these pages just didn't draw me in as much as I had hoped. I'm pressed for time these days and, what with my reservations about the project, I suspect I wouldn't be the best fit. Thanks so much for contacting me and for giving me this opportunity. It's much appreciated, and I'm sorry to be passing. I wish you the very best of luck in your search for representation. So, I'm not quite sure what that all means...she likes the concept, but the writing needs more work than what she has time for?I'm allowed to feel down about it, but I'm just going to keep chugging along and trying my best. Even the best authors were turned down at one point in their career!!

The picture to the left is James Rollins. He has written more bestsellers than I can count on my fingers. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak at the DFW Conference this past May. Not only is he very good looking, but he's also very funny. My mom was so jealous to find out that I was able to hear him speak. She is a HUGE fan. So, the question is, why am I talking about him when he doesn't write my type of genre?Well, since I've come back from my conference I've been active on twitter (@bookwormlaura). I sent a tweet to him saying that I had formed a little crush on him at the conference and he tweeted me back! He used my name!! LOL Anyways, I just wanted to say that I am totally twitter struck right now. I love going on and seeing what published authors are tweeting about. It makes me feel that much closer to being right there with them!

I have some news about my agent search today. I sent about eleven agents my query letter, and have already heard back from four. Two said no (their loss) and two asked for more! I couldn't believe it! You should have seen the little happy dance I did in my classroom. My students looked at me like I had lost my mind, but once they found out why, they were up dancing along side me. I had such great kiddos this year!So, after I had edited a little more of the first three chapters, I sent it to the two agents. I still have one more to send in who wanted the first fifty pages and a synopsis, so that's what I plan on doing this weekend. Overall, I've had a pretty enjoyable experience with this whole agent search. Of course it will be a lot better when I actually get someone to bite. I'll keep you guys updated and I will hopefully be posting another book review either tonight or tomorrow!